


House Unity?

by grey_gazania



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, unnamed narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-08
Updated: 2016-05-08
Packaged: 2018-06-07 06:20:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6789874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grey_gazania/pseuds/grey_gazania
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A young Slytherin reflects on the events of the 1992 Leaving Feast.</p>
            </blockquote>





	House Unity?

Once upon a time, as the Muggles like to say, there was a little girl. This little girl had grown up hearing stories about a place called Hogwarts, a beacon of learning and magic, a place where she would meet other witches and wizards and discover the full extent of her talents.

In due course, she boarded a train that took her away from her home and to this magical school. It wasn't quite as amazing as she'd imagined, but it was still wonderful. She made friends her own age and learned all manner of fascinating things, and while there were some students who grew awfully rude when they saw the color of her tie, for the most part she had no quarrels with her classmates.

The end of the year arrived, bringing with it the Leaving Feast, where her House would celebrate the fact that they had won the House Cup. This wasn't like winning the Quidditch Cup. It was _better_ , because the little girl had played a part in it. Yes, she was only a First Year, but she had studied and worked hard and behaved herself, and some of the emeralds in that hourglass were there because of _her_.

But just as she and her housemates were beginning to celebrate, the Headmaster stood up and made an announcement. Despite the fact that the school year was over, he was going to award some additional points. These points were given to four other First Years - all of whom, curiously enough, were in the Headmaster's own former House. And were those points awarded for good behaviour or academic performance? No. They were awarded because those students had smashed the school rules to bits over some ludicrous story about Dark Wizards and a chess game.

The Headmaster gave those four students just enough points to bring their House up past hers. He declared that House to be the new winner, and the entire rest of the school began to celebrate.

The _entire_ rest of the school.

Were the other two Houses celebrating that House's victory? No, not really. They were celebrating the fact that the little girl's House had lost.

How do you think she felt?

Let me summarize it for you: this little girl and her Housemates won the Cup, only to have it given by the Headmaster to his own former House _after the term was over_ by awarding points to some other students for breaking the rules. And the entire rest of the school found this to be an event worth celebrating.

 _"Well,"_ thought the little girl, _"this deck is obviously stacked. And my classmates all hate my whole House for no good reason."_ She pondered this fact and decided, _"You know what? They can go to hell."_

Can you fault her for thinking that? Can you truly call her reaction unreasonable?

And now those other three Houses complain that the little girl's House is _insular, unfriendly, elitist_ , even _evil_. But they never consider why things are that way. They never ask themselves, "What reasons do those students have to be our friends? What have we ever done to make our friendship seem worthwhile?"

No, they never ask that. It's so much easier to blame the little girl's House than to admit their own mistakes.

Hogwarts is divided. I don't deny it. But if you lions, badgers, and eagles want to truly understand why, you can't look only at the snakes. You need to look at yourselves, too.  


  
  



End file.
